A final fast broken
January 18, 2026
Gandhi’s final fast concluded on this day in 1948. He was 78 years old, staying in New Delhi, and a newspaper report quotes him as telling the crowd that it was his “intense wish” to “live the full span of life, doing service of humanity,” and that would be “at least 125 years.” Alas, he would never turn another page in the calendar.
I'm deeply moved by Gandhi's efforts for peace in the final year of his life. He was a perennial optimist, always thinking the best of people, but the partition of India left a staggering amount of evidence to refute him. Death and destruction was everywhere, and his message of peace was rejected by those consumed by thoughts of revenge. There were even those who chanted during his last fast, “Let Gandhi die!”
The idea didn't deter him. Speaking the night before the fast began, Gandhi said, “Death for me would be a glorious deliverance rather than that I should be a helpless witness to the destruction of India.” Gandhi's final fast was an indefinite one, and it pushed his aged body to its limits; his kidneys started shutting down.
After giving so much for his country for so many decades, he could only offer up his internal organs.
His fast bent the will of the new Indian government. There was a dispute with Pakistan, one that still continues today, over control of the Kashmir region. The Indian government had refused to turn over to Pakistan its share of pre-partition assets; Gandhi demanded they do so, and the money was transferred.
Finally, on January 18th, more than one hundred local leaders produced an agreement that they, themselves, with no help from the government or police, would guarantee the peace. (This is a vast oversimplification of the final fast. Much better reading is here.) They would lead by example. And Gandhi broke his fast with eight ounces of orange juice fortified with glucose.
My own fast is continuing: I had set January 15 as the release date for the POPULIST Act, the legislative package to deliver an upgrade to America’s social contract, and have not finished compiling it yet. I’m taking electrolytes and will continue fasting until it is complete. Cautiously optimistic that it’ll be in the next couple days!
What behavior of yours do you hope others will be inspired to copy?